Dinah Shore: Sarah Shahi & DJ Samantha Ronson Will Face Lesbians Gone Wild
If you’re depressed that Rosie O’Donnell canceled her Friday Night Dinah Shore show, you might be tempted to do what we always do in times of great pain & grief, which is stare at this photo:
Which is why it’s quite ironic & delightful that not only will DJ Samantha Ronson be spinning at Girlbar that night (more on that in a minute), but Club Skirts has just announced that the brain and entire body behind that incredible ass up there, actress Sarah Shahi, aka our own CARMEN DE LA PICA MORALES. is coming to Club Skirts Lesbian Party Wonderland The Dinah! that very evening!
During Dinah’s White Diamonds party on Friday night at the Palm Springs Convention Center, you’ll be able to meet Sarah Shahi in person/cop a feel, and have her sign that copy of Curve Magazine you still have hidden in your vibrator box. According to Club Skirts’ enthusiastic press release, Sarah Shahi will MAKE A SPECIAL APPEARANCE FOR A NEVER-BEEN-DONE BEFORE AUTOGRAPH & PHOTO OPS WITH FANS!
This announcement comes on the heels of last week’s big announcement from Girlbar Dinah Shore — they’ve snagged lesbian DJ Samantha Ronson for their Friday night party. DJ Samantha Ronson will be fielding Tweets from Lindsay and spinning live from the DJ booth at Girlbar’s Pure White Party on Friday, April 2 at Hotel Zoso, followed by a performance from R&B Powerhouse Kelis. Between Kelis’s milkshake and SamRo’s magical fingers, there will be a lot of girls and bois in the yard.
In lieu of Rosie’s show, the “SINFULLY HILARIOUS CULT-FAVE FEMINIST COMEDY DUO” Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney are bringing a “ONE NIGHT ONLY REPRISAL OF THEIR MULTIPLE AWARD-WINNING SATIRICAL SMASH, The Kathy and Mo Show!
Says The Dinah:
We’re disappointed in [Rosie O’Donnell’s decision to cancel her show at The Dinah to remain in Miami with her children over spring break] and we know our Dinah fans will be as well. All Rosie tickets may be transferred to The Kathy and Mo Show. We are also holding an exclusive private meet & greet with The L Word’s favorite character, Sarah Shahi, in which she will autograph complementary L Word hats and pose for photos with all previous Rosie O’Donnell ticket holders prior to the meet & greet with the general Dinah attendees.
Both Samantha Ronson and Sarah Shahi, though supportive of the community, haven’t put themselves out there like this for the lesbians before, which means we have officially gone gaystream and equality is probs right around the corner!
You can plan your weekend using Autostraddle’s handy Dinah Shore guide with special Dinah Shore map, which is the best Dinah Shore guide on the entire internet for real, and also you can buy tickets for Girlbar or Club Skirts events at their websites.
Dinah Shore Weekend 2010: Lesbian Events, Parties & Concert Schedule
As you may or may not know, Dinah Shore is a monumental lesbian weekend occurring annually in Palm Springs, California. It is commonly referred to as “lesbian spring break.” Last year, when we’d only existed for a few weeks, we remotely live-blogged the star-studded event (Design Director Alex happened to be going, Riese transcribed while visiting family in Ohio)and this year we’ll all be there. It’s happening March 31st through April 4th. So get your carpool together!
Feel overwhelmed? Well look no further, we have a full schedule of all the events happening at Club Skirts‘ and GirlBar‘s legendary weekend and Alex made a terrific map of Palm Springs to guide you through Dinah Shore weekend. There are definitely more hotels and restaurants and things in this area of Palm Springs, we just noted the places we like and thought you should know about:
Club Skirts events shown in magenta.
GirlBar events shown in light blue.
UPDATED MARCH 12 // CLICK TO ENLARGE
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The Clib Skirts Dinah All-Access pass and the GirlBar Girl Passes gets you into all parties for the weekend. Here’s a tip: don’t buy each ticket for the events the day of or at the door. The All-Access and Girl Passes are the way to go for sure.
Here’s the Autostraddle schedule for the weekend:
(derived from Club Skirts’ The Dinah and GirlBars’ Dinah Shore Week websites, where you can find a more elaborate version.)
But let’s cut to the chase, these are the most important events of your weekend:
1. Battle of the Lesbian Webseries: Saturday April 3rd, 4:30PM – 5:30PM at The Hilton Palm Springs. Featuring Autostraddle’s Nat Garcia, the ladies of We Have to Stop Now, Julie Goldman and Brandy Howard of Autostraddle’s In Your Box Office as well as the stars of your favorite series Anyone But Me and Girltrash!
2. Salt ‘n Pepa: Saturday April 3rd, 9 PM. Preceded by Fashion Show featuring Autostraddle’s Nat Garcia as well as Meredith Baxter, Suzanne Westenhoefer, Thea Gill (Queer as Folk), Elizabeth Keener (The L Word), and cast members from We Have to Stop Now.
3. Sarah Shahi! The one & only Carmen De LA Pica Morales will be facing her lesbian fans with a special signing and meet-and-greet on Friday night! Furthermore Ke$ha the Bisexual Pop Star who sings Tik Tok & Bla Bla Bla, who btw was in an episode of The Simple Life when she was a teenager which is funny, is also performing at the Club Skirts White Diamond Party.
4. Thursday Night is Comedy Night, and friends of Autostraddle including Erin Foley, Nicol Paone, Gloria Bigelow and Suzanne Westenhoefer will be performing.
1. Kelis performs and Celebrity DJ Samantha Ronson does her thing at the Friday Night Pure White Party (more information below.)
2. Jennifer Coolidge, who you know from Legally Blonde, American Pie and all the Christopher Guest movies, is hosting a fundraiser for the HRC on Saturday night at Hotel Zoso! Doors at 7:30pm, show at 8:30pm. 100% of the net proceeds go to benefit the HRC.
3. Orianthi is Michael Jackson’s guitarist, she’s super cute, and she’s performing at GirlBar’s SplashDance Pool Party on Sunday.
4. Kelly Rowland, formerly of Destiny’s Child, will be performing on Saturday night at Girlbar’s Circus-a-Go-Go!
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Wednesday 3.31
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Club Skirts Early Bird Cocktail Dinah Pre-Party
The Hilton Hotel’s Nightclub // 8pm-12 AM
Join other early birds at this sexy meet and greet and meet some of Dinah’s talent.
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Girlbar Cocktails Meet & Greet
Renaissance Palm Springs // Pool Terrace // doors open at 8 PM
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Thursday 4.1
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Club Skirts Dinah Opening Bash
Zeldaz Nightclub //10pm
169 N. Indian Canyon Way (walking distance from Hilton or Hyatt)
Kicking off the weekend with two rooms, two dancefloors (cause one isn’t enough) and outside patio.
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GirlBar Opening Kick-Off Night Dance
Hunter’s Video & Dance Club // doors open 8pm
Start the weekend at Palm Springs’ most popular dance club.
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Club Skirts – LOLz! Dinah-Style [Laughing Loud]
The Palm Springs Convention Center // Doors 8pm, Show 9pm
An evening of comedy featuring some of our very favorite funny ladies: Suzanne Westenhoefer, Vicki Shaw, Erin Foley, Bridget McManus, Sandra Vals, Gloria Bigalow, Jenny McNulty and Nicol Paone.
Tickets $30 advance, $40 at the door or included with a Gold or Platinum pass.
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Friday 4.2
Photo by Robin Roemer
Club Skirts Frisky Friday Pool Party
The Hilton Hotel Main Pool // 12-5pm
DJs, dancing, and cocktailing.
Live Sirius radio broadcast with Out Q’s radio hosts Doria Biddle and Romaine.
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GirlBar’s TGIF Pool Party
The Renaissance Palm Springs // All Day
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Club Skirts LOGO Red Carpet VIP Party
The Palm Springs Convention Center // 9-10:30pm in the VIP section
Exclusive LOGO Networks cocktail reception in the outside patio at 9pm, then celesbians walk the MTV/LOGO Red Carpet at 10pm
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GirlBar “Funny Girlz 5” Comedy Show
Zoso Hotel Ballroom // Cocktails @7:30pm – Show @8:30 PM
Comedy show featuring Poppy Champlin, Michele Balan and Dana Goldberg.
Tickets $25 advance, $30 door.
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Club Skirts White Diamonds Party
The Palm Springs Convention Center // 9pm
Performing live: Ke$ha
And DJs Kathy Valenti, Lisa Pittman and Saratonin
JUST ANNOUNCED: an appearance by our one and only Sarah Shahi!
Admission is $90 in advance and at the door, or included with a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum pass.
Wear white! You’ve seen that L Word episode we’re assuming.
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GirlBar’s Pure White Party
Hotel Zoso Grand Ballroom// doors at 8pm
Featuring Superstar DJ Samantha Ronson (aka SamRo) at her first lesbian event!
Photo by Jeff King
Performing live at midnight: R&B Powerhouse Kelis
Two Expansive Levels of PURE entertainment!
Upper Level – DJ Lounge & Outdoor Patio
Lower Level- Grand Ballroom Dance Party
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Girlbar VIP Hosted Cocktail Party
Hotel Zoso’s Restaurant Terrace Lounge // 8:30pm-10:30pm
For VIP & Renaissance Package Guests
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Saturday 4.3
Autostraddle does Dinah '09
Girlbar’s Wet & Wild Pool Party
The Renaissance Palm Springs // 11am-5pm
Live Performances by Erica Jayne, Billboard Top 10 Dance Artist Kaylah Marin & Shontelle
BBQ, DJs, Go-Go Dancers, Vendor Fair & Poolside Fun throughout the day
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Club Skirts Cabana Girl Pool Party
The Hilton Hotel Main Pool // Doors at 9am
Presented by LOGO
Featuring a live performance by the Paradiso Girls.
At 4:30pm don’t miss the “WAR OF THE WEBSERIES“, a fierce competition where our webseries stars Nat Garcia of “AutoNatic” and Julie Goldman and Brandy Howard of “In Your Box Office” will battle it out against other webseries’ stars to find out what happens when lesbians stop being polite and start gettin real.
Hosted by Susanne Westenhoefer and Doria Biddle.
Read more/official information on OneMoreLesbian.com
$30 in advance and at the door, or included with a Silver, Gold or Platinum pass.
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GirlBar’s Chillout Pool Party
Hotel Zoso Pool // 11am-4pm
Featuring Australian-born, Sri Lankan singer-songwriter Yasmine keeping things cool with sultry jazz, blues and soul.
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Club Skirts Presents The Kathy and Mo Show!
“Sinfully hilarious cult-fave feminist comedy duo” Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney are bringing a “one night only reprisal of their multiple award-winning satirical smash, The Kathy and Mo Show!”
Club Skirts Hollywood Party
The Convention Center // 9pm
Featuring a live performance by the absolutely legendary Salt n Pepa!
Bring your cocktail dresses and suits cause it’s on.
Plus: The Club Skirts 4th Annual Celebrity Fashion Show, with Nat Garcia of our upcoming webseries, AutoNatic and many other smokin’ hot ladies like Autostraddle friends Jill Bennett and Cathy Debuono and more.
$90 advance and at the door, or included with a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum pass.
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GirlBar HRC Fundraiser
Hotel Zoso Ballroom // Doors Open 7:30 pm, Show 8:30pm
Featuring Hilarious Actress/Comedienne Jennifer Coolidge
100% of net proceeds benefit HRC
First 10 Rows: $60, General Admission: $45, VIP/Renaissance Guests: $35
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GirlBar’s Circus A Go-Go
Renaissance Ballroom // 8pm-3am
Join 4,000 Hot Women from around the world! Pole Dancers, 30 Go-Go Dancers, Shows All Night!
Kelly Rowland performing her international hits “Work” and “When Love Takes Over“
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Sunday 4.4
Autostraddle does Dinah '09
Club Skirts Sunday Lov’n Pool Party
The Hilton Hotel // Doors at 9am
Featuring Adam Bouska and Jeff Parshley of the
NOH8 Campaign will be shooting NOH8 photos all day!
$30 advance and at the door, or include with a Silver, Gold or Platinum pass.
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GirlBar’s SplashDance Pool Party
at The Renaissance Palm Springs
With live performance from Michael Jackson’s
hot guitar player YOU KNOW WHO I’M TALKING ABOUT Orianthi.
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Club Skirts’ Official Dinah Closing Gala
Zeldaz Nightclub // 9pm
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GirlBar’s Closing Party
at Hunter’s Video and Dance Club
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The following Autostraddlers will be in attendance: Riese (CEO/EIC), Brooke (COO), Alex (Design Director), Tess (Web Manager), Laneia (Executive Editor), Sarah (Associate Editor), Jess (Assistant Editor), Taylor (Technology Editor), Kelsey (video assistant), Haviland (our friend), Nat Garcia (vlogstar), Julie Goldman & Brandy Howard (vlogstars).
You can find us in the corner hiding from all the other human beings, reading literature.
52nd Annual Grammy Awards: Open Thread, Drinking Game, Lady Gaga Lovefest
1:00 AM: Well that’s all folks! If you were following along, go back ’cause we’ve added a bunch of photos from the night.
Juelz Knowles and Beyonce at the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards
12:22 AM: Remember in the beginning, when we were young and Taylor Swift hadn’t won something for no reason? And Lady Gaga was performing? Also does anyone else think it’s quite honestly possible that The Grammys were rigged? People do crazy shit for money it’s the recession! #conspiracytheory IT’S ‘CAUSE LADY GAGA IS QUEER THAT’S WHY YOU GUYS
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Rosie O’Donnell Does Oprah, Will Do Dinah Shore, Also Meredith Baxter’s Coming!
ROSIE: Okay we were mostly pretending to be excited about Ke$ha, but we’re genuinely excited that Rosie O’Donnell will be headlining Club Skirts Comedy Night at the 2010 Dinah Shore Weekend.
With Rosie doing stand-up and Salt-n-Peppa headlining the musical night it is basically gonna be like the early 90’s up in there except for that in the early 90’s we still dated boys. Luckily, we love the early 90’s b/c of all the heartwarming Tom Hanks movies, Beavis & Butthead, Ani DiFranco’s Both Hands and Boyz II Men. Will it be even better than last year? Our sources say YES!
Rosie O’Donnell started her career as a stand-up comedian, later moving on to a prolific film & television & show-hosting career. Dinah Shore is being billed as her “big return” to the game (sidenote: we’ve seen her do stand-up on RFamily Cruises a few times, SO GET READY).
The word from our hyperbolic boundlessly energetic Dinah Shore press release:
“I am beyond thrilled to have Rosie O’Donnell join our stellar entertainment line-up on our 20th Anniversary,” says Mariah Hanson, founder of Club Skirts Presents The Dinah®, “my customers love Rosie. She’s a role model, a beacon of hope, and a voice of truth. And at The Dinah, once again, she’ll do what we have missed from her for years: stand up. And no one, and I mean no one, does it better than Rosie!”
Other exciting events planned for Dinah Shore include:
+ A special “No H8” Sunday Pool Party hosted by award-winning fashion photographer Adam Bouska and Jeff Parshley, co-founders of the iconic N0 H8 campaign, will take place at The Hilton Hotel on Sunday, April 4th.
+ AUTOSTRADDLE! A unique celebrity fashion show sponsored by “No H8″ Campaign will be hosted during the White Diamond Party on Friday, April 2 featuring Autostraddle’s very own Nat Garcia!
+ “Family Ties” actress Meredith Baxter will make a public appearance joining the prestigious panel of celesbians and entertainment luminaries that will grace the catwalk in support of the LGBT community’s fight for equality.
+ AUTOSTRADDLE! Also new this year is the creative and original battle of the webseries hosted by One More Lesbian and featuring the ladies of Autio/Video, and a “never-been-done-before astonishing circus in and beer garden.” (We’re not sure what that last part means either)
+ Autostraddle CEO Riese having a mental breakdown because she doesn’t like other people or crowds and holding a pow-wow with whiskey & Executive Editor Laneia on the bathroom floor either live in person or via telephone.
Also! Rosie O’Donnell was on Oprah yesterday and was predictably endearing, funny, and wise. She talked about splitting with Kelli & keeping the family, how she’ s grateful to be alive having lived past how old her mother is when she died, her new radio show, her upcoming HBO special and life in general. Here’s the first part of the interview I know it’s 10 minutes long, but it’s totally worth it, you guys:
You can find the rest of the interview (also worth it) on Youtube!
ELLEN & ROSIE: Also, we recently found this amazing video of Ellen DeGeneres on the Rosie O’Donnell Show before her famous coming out episode of Ellen. We just wanted to share it with you.
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Also you guys it’s Ellen’s birthday and Adam Lambert will be performing on her show later SO WATCH IT OBVIOUSLY.
TARGET: Sarah Haskins will no longer be making episodes of Target Women, which is super sad! But it looks like she’s on to bigger and better things: There are two big funny projects in the works — both co-written with Emily Halpern — Booksmart, which is at Fox, and we’re working on a screenplay entitled Lunch Lady for Amy Poehler. Sarah Haskins an Amy Poehler on the same project! (@jezebel)
MGMT: The boys of MGMT love Lady Gaga, just like you! Ok, maybe love is a strong word, but they did draw inspiration from her for their second album, which comes out this spring. It even includes a song called “Lady Dada’s Nightmare.” See what they did there? They also tell Spin:
Q: Are you a fan of Lady Gaga?
A: Well, at first I brushed her off as crap. And then I realized that her videos are really creative, and I like that she’s getting more and more bizarre and spreading that to the mainstream. VH1 would say that she’s driven, that she wanted to be as famous as possible. That’s a very different goal from us. But I respect that she’s doing what she wants to do.
I doubt they’ll ever write another song as good as Time to Pretend, but we’ll see! (@spin)
TSWIFT: Celeb Jihad specializes in articles that are totally not true, disguised as articles that totally are true. It’s very confusing until you catch on to what they’re doing. This particular article is so ridiculous, but I had to share anyway; They accuse Taylor Swift of being a pillow queen? Who would ever believe that?! But there is this ABSOLUTE GEM of a video that Taylor supposedly put up on her MySpace as a goodbye to her alleged lady love. It’s set to Dashboard Confessional, you guys! Please go watch it, and you’ll feel like you’re in the throes of middle school heartache all over again. (@celebjihad)
NYC: If any of our New York autostraddlers are lookin for something to do/an organization to support tonight, you can get your ass over to the Stonewall Inn from 6:30pm to 9pm where you can support the litigators that fight for your rights, Lamdba Legal, and you can hear DJ Carlytron spinning the good stuff. (Suggested $5 donation at the door to raise funds for Lambda Legal.)
Salt-n-Pepa Headlining The Dinah: Sh*t Just Got Way Better
I hope the Paradiso Girls are sweating in their skivvies right now…
Guess who was just added to the line-up at this years Dinah Shore?
GUESS. OKAY OMG I’LL JUST TELL YOU!
The legendary Grammy Award-winning American hip-hop trio Salt-N-Pepa!
That’s right ladies. As if Ke$ha and the Paradiso Girls weren’t enough, now we get to break it down Alice-and-Tasha-L-Word-Season-6-Style at The Dinah this year. Get your spandex ready, practice your running-man, and brush up on the lyrics to “Whatta Man” cause it’s ON.
Here’s a little more that you may or may not have already known about the legendary ladies of Salt-n-Pepa:
As the first all female rap crew, Salt-N-Pepa historically changed the face of the music scene. The groundbreaking cult band has broken many records in the music industry and is, to this day, credited as being one of the first rap artists to cross over into pop mainstream, laying the groundwork for a number of other female artists in the likes of TLC, Destiny’s Child and Beyoncé.
Selling over 15 million albums and singles worldwide, Salt-N-Pepa became the first female rap Grammy winners; the first female rap act to go gold or platinum; and the first female rap act to have a multi-platinum album.
“Much like The Dinah has over the years changed the face of lesbian event production, Salt-N-Pepa have changed the face of women in music. We herald them as the perfect headliner for our signature event,” says Mariah Hanson, founder of Club Skirts (The Dinah).
Ain’t that the truth.
Dinah Shore is celebrating its 20 year anniversary March 31st – April 4 this year in Palm Springs, California. Get your tickets cause Autostraddle is going and so should you!
Anyone But Me Season Two Premiere Party New York City
On Tuesday, December 8th, Team Autostraddle ventured forth into the cold night, leaving our laptops behind for the exciting interactive human beings at the Anyone But Me Season Two launch party. After some confusion at the coat rack involving Natalie looking for chapstick and a mysterious unclaimed inhaler, we bounded gallantly through the stylish Blip TV offices and behind a giant hot pink curtain to discover a bunch of super talented and ridiculously attractive people!
We were greeted by Autostraddle Bestie and ABM creator/writer/executive producer Susan Miller, writer/producer Tina Cesa Ward and of course the whole wonderfully beautiful cast including the two lovely leading ladies Rachael Hip-Flores and Nicole Pacent. You may remember that fantastic interview & photoshoot we had with them back in August where they were completely adorable, funny, and awesomely geeky? The type of girls you dream of dating? Refresher:
You should also love Susan Miller who we also interviewed because she wrote the best L Word episode ever: the one where they deploy a mission to ascertain the disposition and intent of one Ms. Lara Perkins. Also she’s won Obies and stuff.
Despite Intern Lily, Natalie, Alex, Jess & Riese ALL being in attendance, none of us had the incredible foresight to bring a camera, so instead we only have other people’s pictures to prove we attended! The party photos were taken by James George.
Howevs our friend party-lurker Grace Chu of Grace the Spot was much smarter than us. She’d picked up a camera just that day and told us we were partially responsible for her party attendance as Brooke (Autostraddle’s Chief Operating Officer of Drinking With Other Important Media Lesbians) told her about the Anyone But Me party when they’d had a post-Gay-Magazine-Panel drink (or ten) last weekend. (The remaining partial responsibility goes to her actual editor at AfterEllen, later). Unfortunately Grace is more comfortable behind the camera and insists she’s not totally abandoned her “I prefer to be an avatar” rule, so we have no photos of her either. You wouldn’t know about these jovial laughs Grace shared with the highly linkable website autostraddle.com by reading the AfterEllen write-up of the event but perhaps you should check it out just the same, and either way, we just snatched this photo of hers from it:
We also got to meet ANOTHER INTERN! Intern Meredith is the intern for Anyone About Me and so we hung out with her too ’cause we’re intern magnets. Susan introduced us to a lot of people who all seemed really special! Rachael Hip-Flores wore a cute dress and Nicole Pacent had a big leg boot on her leg from fighting with an alligator!
Who else was there? Wine!
And then suddenly it was 8 PM we all settled in for a series of celebrity videos and a sneak peak of Season Two’s first episode — and we think you’re really gonna dig it, guys! The new season looks incredibly promising and will BLOW YOUR MINDS. No seriously though, it was funny, edgy, smart, witty, and definitely takes the show to a whole new level.
Vivian & Aster in "Anyone But Me," Season One
Riese Recaps: If you missed Season One you can catch up now ’cause the premiere is gonna be December 15th, just in time for you to be home with your families wanting to watch something sweet. Though Miller once wrote for the unstoppable Showtime lesbosexy vehicle The L Word, expect more South of Nowhere than TLW.
At Season One’s start, Vivian and her father are leaving Manhattan for Westchester, which is apparently 30 human minutes but 300 teenage lesbian lovebird minutes away, which means Vivian is leaving her smokin’ hot girlfriend Aster behind unsupervised to go swap spit at Cubbyhole. Will Vivian & Aster’s gaaaaay relationship survive the distance? Will they send each other cute sexts?
As the season journeys on, the relationship hits its ups and downs as Vivian settles in to a new school and runs into Sophie, a blast from the past currently caught up in the Angela Chase-Jordan Catalano Problem — her boyf wants to bang, and Sophie does.not.want. Why not? I dunno, but when Season One ends and Vivian finally consents to make out publicly with her girlfriend in the middle of the street outside of her school, Sophie seems SUPER INTERESTED IN THE SCENE. You know what I mean. That straight-girl-best-friend in school fantasy might come true. But then what about Aster, she’s so hot! See, these are the kinds of dilemnas you will be pondering in three short days! [xoxo Riese]
Look, we were there —
SUSAN MILLER
I SEE RIESE'S HOODIE
But our true lingering thoughts went something along the lines of “Ah, I can’t tell who is hotter: Nicole Pacent or her girlfriend date?” [An intern is getting 40 lashes for not calling the fact-checker] [we don’t have a fact checker]
Susan and Tina toasted to the cast and crew and their web master and also to us! Which was very nice!
As we left Blip TV’s fantastic studio Tuesday night we couldn’t help but be struck by the love that the Anyone But Me cast, creators, and crew seem to have for one another. Meeting the people involved and seeing how cute they are to each other makes the show even more fun to watch.
You know how in movies or on TV, a whole bunch of people who are totally different will seem to effortlessly get along with a sort of youthful, earnest, gap-bridging-is-like-swimming attitude? For Anyone But Me, it’s rubbed off on the cast. Don’t tell them though, ’cause it’s pretty cute just the way it is.
Season 2 of Anyone But Me premieres December 15th
Catch up on Season 1 at AnyoneButMeSeries.com
Follow Anyone But Me on Twitter!
Lady Gaga & Adam Lambert on American Music Awards: Performance Art & Dirty Talk
By early reports, Lady Gaga’s second album The Fame Monster is quickly cementing her position as the decade’s greatest pop star. And then; on November 22’s American Music Awards, Lady Gaga performed ‘Speechless’ and ‘Bad Romance’ and these performances were exceptional. The AMA’s cemented our suspicion that Lady Gaga is here to stay, and that we can expect further innovation and subsequent success from her forever & ever.
Lady Gaga’s hair was down, literally. Her first costume was flesh & bone and her second was the same but consumed in smoke. There was a violinist in a glass cube, and a bottle broken on a piano and things lighting on fire.
At one point you realized that Lady Gaga never does it the same way twice. Essentially Gaga’s brilliant songs are merely the soundtrack to Lady Gaga: The Performance (as explained in The Theory of Gaga by Bernard, Wooley, Choo and Casino 2009), as saucily suggested by the Gossip Girl Lady Gaga-scored Snow White musical campily paraded in prime-time last week — and what pop star at the height of their career subjects themselves to that? Lady Gaga! Because she’s an equal opportunity performer, finding value in every stage on every set. She goes through incredible effort to assure universal access to Lady Gaga; The Performance, which is unique for an artist of her style. She’s appeared on just about every award or talk show and performed just about everywhere in the world. She has made herself impossible to forget for over a year of the kind of ’round-the-clock monitoring pop stars are subjected to in the age of twitter and technologies.
Sometimes the most amazing thing about Lady Gaga is how all stages are created equal for her. I mean, The American Music Awards? Do people normally watch this show? Would you watch it if twitter didn’t exist? Did Taylor Swift win anything? Anyhow, it’s probs a lovely show, but it’s not on the edge of anything.
Lady Gaga chooses the most random places to parade indecipherable outfits (Ellen, assorted obscure German television stations) and to perform her greatest performances yet — the fact that people still consider her MTV Video Music Awards performance underwhelming blows our minds. That whole MTV VMA performance thing felt like a Kathy Acker-directed play called “Performance at the Awards for Videos Created for Music Television by Stunning pop star,” and “Speechless” and just now on the American Music Awards she one-upped the masterpiece by making us feel something so hard you accidentally started crying. “Speechless” felt like something that would make the panel of Dancing With the Stars not just cry superficially in self-congratulatory pandering but probs flood the studio, Pharoh-style, with their genuine reaction, even if there wasn’t much dancing.
The question is if it still counts when everyone can see it, and the second question is, “who cares if everyone can see it.”
See for yourself:
Do you see that she’s just as likely to give this performance at your cousin’s Bar Mitzvah, had you hired her, which obvs you did not. I personally had a DJ named Party Time. [Also, she speaks out against homophobic/misogynistic rappers.]
Also, we know you saw Adam Lambert’s closing sexually-charged performance of “For Your Entertainment” and have many many conflicting feelings about it. Right? So do we. Firstly, I like the song even better now! And you can’t forget the song when evaluating the performance — he’s taking a phrase generally used to describe family-friendly circus acts and turning it on its head by giving head.
Secondly, I don’t even know where to begin. He fully shoved a male dancer’s face in his crotch! (Although ABC cut away mid-oral sex simulation with the male dancer… which is weird only ’cause the female one was left in.) He was totally like Sex God Lord of Darkness Holy Motherfucking OMG!
Will Lambert create a Britney or Madonna-esque scandal? According to Rolling Stone there was even a mirrored prop so the audience could see the look of shock (and horror?) (and awe?) on their own faces. Amazing.
Sex you guys! SEX! SEX FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT. Lady Gaga did death, btw, and then Lambert did sex. They switched it up tonight.
If the media/press/America doesn’t get it at this point, perhaps they never will: this was the big “eff youuu” to everyone that wanted to push the issue of his sexuality front and center and a kind of gloriously glittered response letter to those who challenged him fairly. Something doesn’t need to be GAY to be — you know — gay — after all.
He is making you like a queer sensibility and surrender to its power during a media-saturated era of oft-dashed hopes, and so is Lady Gaga, so maybe this is the year you start to love the rowdy inverted stereotype you’ve always had of us. Because music is supposed to be about deviance, and that means pop music too — fuck bubble gum.
Photos from the event, including Adam Lambert, Janet Jackson, Melissa Etheridge, Kelly Clarkson and more …
You can download Lady Gaga’s The Fame Monster (Deluxe) [Explicit] and Adam’s For Your Entertainment (for $3.99!) today, November 23rd!
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On Set of “We Have To Stop Now” with Jill Bennett & Cathy DeBuono
Sweet Lesbian Travel is all about “women supporting women,” said Jill Bennett at an informal press conference on board Sweet’s inaugural cruise to the Caribbean, thanking Sweet CEO and co-founder Shannon Wentworth for her support of Jill and Cathy DeBuono‘s web-series We Have To Stop Now. It was Wentworth’s investment in the series that enabled the duo to shoot four episodes of Season 2 on board and therefore enabled me to interview Jill Bennett & Cathy DeBuono on set. The cruise also enabled us to be present on Wednesday morning when Jill & Cathy performed the ancient lesbian ritual of Climbing the Mayan Ruins While Discussing Relationship Feelings. Also, I find Cathy’s personality very soothing and kinda wish she were my real therapist.
So, all in all it was a pleasure to grab a minute to chat with the dynamic duo. We talked about We Have to Stop Now and why SheWired suits them better than AfterEllen (swear words!) and because they were super busy and we have lots of things to talk about, we made plans to do a more in-depth interview soon.
Jill Bennett & Cathy DeBuono on the Sweet Cruise
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The Show: We Have To Stop Now
We Have To Stop Now is a romantic comedy web-series that follows two lesbian therapists as they struggle to stay together while promoting their book “How To Succeed In Marriage Without Even Trying.” Occasionally they take their clothes off and have sex and afterward they smile more and have even cuter hair!
Comedian and co-star Suzanne Westenhoefer explained her passion for the show: “We all got really sad about some shows that represent lesbians and how they were written and how things happened and how we were represented, like, Who are these lesbians? Who acts like this?” and advised people looking for positive representation to “check out our show – you’ll see yourselves.”
Jill Bennett added, “It’s all about independence with our series. It’s made by lesbians, it’s for lesbians, and it’s been privately funded by lesbians. We went to the gay networks and they were not interested in doing a lesbian scripted show. Shannon donated the rooms so we were able to do our show. It’s all about working together.”
Filming We Have to Stop Now at Sea
Bonus: the fans on board had the unique opportunity actually appear as extras in a scene that takes place on the Sweet cruise. In the scene, Dyna [Cathy]and Kit [Jill] are on the Sweet cruise doing a Q&A for their book How to Succeed in Marriage Without Even Trying while their own personal relationship drama simmers beneath the surface.
A few lucky bitches even scored speaking roles as audience members pitching questions to Jill & Cathy. Jill, Cathy and director Robyn Dettman remained patient and professional throughout it all, appearing unphased by the challenges of filming in a super-tight space surrounded by mirrors with untrained actors who forgot lines and probably were secretly burning to ask off-script questions like, “Can you take your tops off?”
Jill & Cathy were playful, laughing and all-around adorbs between takes. They complimented extras on their surprisingly fantastic acting skills and just seemed happy to be out actors doing a lesbian-themed show on their own terms.
Chatting With the Dynamic Duo
Jill & Cathy told me that filming on board is “an exercise in being flexible and rolling with it. You show up on a set you decided to shoot at and it’s not available or one of our guest actors [on the ship] is unavailable.”
But the biggest problem they faced while filming on board? Being deprived of our land-based communication techniques like stone tablets, telegrams and most importantly TEXT MESSAGING. Cathy explained, “We’ve become so reliant on text messaging [during filming in LA]. Now, it’s just ‘run up to deck 12!’ It’s like a game of telephone and you would not believe how the message changes from one person to the next. It’s been a Comedy of Errors but we think we’re making a good show.”
Jill & Cathy on set during the Sweet Cruise!
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I also got a bit of scoop regarding what it’s like working at SheWired.com versus their previous interweb home, AfterEllen.com. Jill broke down the differences, explaining: “AfterEllen is owned by Viacom and as much fun as we had doing We’re Getting Nowhere, there was obviously a certain level of restraint that we had to have. No cussing, sexual references had to be watered down and sanitized. One of the refreshing aspects of being on SheWired is they are a privately owned company. We can say whatever we want, we can do whatever we want [“And we do!” -Cathy chimes in] and they support it.”
Cathy adds, “When I was doing What’s Your Problem on AfterEllen, we really had to work within the confines of certain margins because there were so many responsibilities to Viacom and the rules that they are subject to. So, once we left AfterEllen and went to SheWired, we were a little gun shy about certain things because we were so used to being told “you can’t do that, you can’t do that, you can’t do that.”
But once we moved over to SheWired, we actually sat down with [Editor in Chief] Tracy Gilchrist and said look, these are the limitations that have been put on us before and we’re not doing it again, so, what do you think of that? And she was like, are you crazy?! Let that shit fly!”
Clearly that creative freedom has translated into new projects and fresh ventures for the twosome, now happily working together and sailing into the eye of the hurricane. Check back on Autostraddle for the rest of our talk with J&C; debunking some popular rumors, the experience of filming their weekly live vlog, The Gloves Are Off and their upcoming movie And Then Came Lola, available on DVD in 2010.
Season 1 of We Have To Stop Now is online at wehavetostopnow.tv and will be distributed by Wolfe Video on DVD in the Spring to coincide with the Season 2 premiere.
The Sweet Cruise Live-Blogged by A;ex & Riese for Autostraddle
Welcome to the our coverage of the week we’re spending on the high seas with a bunch of lesbians, celesbians, and the fine ladies of Sweet Lesbian Travel. Bookmark this page, ’cause this’ll be the hot spot for up-to-the-minute iPhone photos, transcribed tweets, invented happenings and cut-and-pasted emails from A;ex, our designer, and Riese, our CEO of Ideas, as well as co-passengers. Members of the Autostraddle Team and Interns will be the “go-between” for this terrifically entertaining adventure. They have no idea what they’re doing, which will be exactly as exciting as it sounds. Ready? Let’s party, pirates!
National LGBTQ Equality March Stimulates a New Generation: Interviews & Video
National Equality March Video:
Edited by Riese, with appearances by Kristin Chenoweth, Dan Choi, Haviland Stillwell, Riese, Alex, Brooke and The Autostraddle Interns.
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National Equality March Invigorates a New Lesbian Generation Ready for Revolution
By Katrina Casino
We are having an identity crisis. This is great, because gay people need more of those. This one, though, isn’t about who we are. We know who we are—we’re LGBT people and their allies. This identity crisis is about what we want, and though we agree about wanting equality, none of us are really sure what that means. A repeal of DOMA? The freedom to serve our country as we want? Or is it just about visibility — about knowing we exist?
This past Sunday at the National Equality March in Washington, D.C., somewhere between 60,000 and 200,000 LGBT people and their allies marched through the streets of the District and ended for a rally at the National Mall organized by Equality Across America, a network of decentralized organizers from each of the 435 U.S. Congressional districts.
With this kind of organization, it’s no surprise that one of the main points touched upon at the rally was the importance of grassroots organization. The Equality March brought together a diverse group of speakers with a commendably inclusive message to reflect the diversity that exists, but is not always spoken of, in the LGBT community.
The rally lineup featured over 30 speakers, including LGBT activists David Mixner, Judy Shepard, and Lt. Dan Choi as well as grassroots organizers like Join the Impact: Chicago‘s awesomely jeans-and-hoodied Corrine Mina. Also, miraculously and without any rain, a rainbow appeared in the sky. So there’s what God thinks of that.
We may be criticized by older generations for being individualistic and demanding, but this kind of attitude has carried us to a point where we do not just want things, we expect them. Things kind of like, y’know, rights.
The rally kicked off with Rev. Troy Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Community Church, an International Protestant Christian denomination with a specific outreach to the LGBT community. Reading a letter from Desmond Tutu, Rev. Perry invoked the spirits of our predecessors—not just forerunners of the LGBT movement but also leaders in the Civil Rights Movement, advocates for education, and those fighting breast cancer and AIDS.
After looking reverently to the past, the speakers turned to our generation and told us what the crowd at the March already showed: we are a young, new generation of activists. And maybe that’s what we need. Never in the U.S. has the voice of dissent and demand been so loud as it has been when originated with the young, the newly passionate, and the naively enthusiastic. We may be criticized by older generations for being individualistic and demanding, but this kind of attitude has carried us to a point where we do not just want things, we expect them. Things kind of like, y’know, rights.
You’ve Gotta Fight for Your Right to Party
And we’ll fight for them, because we’re now at a place where we can. As Mixner reminded us, “They can’t take away our freedom—we already have it. It is ours, and we are going to fight to protect it!”
Being reminded of those who rallied and rioted and died in the streets before us, the beginning of the Rally for Equality instilled in the audience a sense of duty, not to the community or to the public, but to themselves. Trans activist Tobias Parker demanded this of the audience, “We must risk safety and comfort for the promise of equality. We must commit ourselves to fully authentic lives.”
These sentiments echo the message of the late Harvey Milk, who rallied his followers to come out to “the people you know, and who know you.” It was harder to come out in the 70s than it is today. Many of us live in places where we don’t have to fight to be unashamed or liberated. That’s the beautiful thing about our movement: the easiest way to accomplish it is just by living, and expecting what we deserve.
Equality Later
Despite its strong start, the March wore long into the afternoon, and as pointed out in our National Equality March recap, many of those without snacks didn’t make it through the 30+ speakers that Equality Across America lined up. And by “snacks,” I mostly mean “patience for a repetitive and lengthy message.”
Sunday’s speakers seemed very much to be trying to sell marriage to the crowd, to convince us that we should all rally around this one cause. And of course we should, but the speakers of the rally knew that their audience was one smart enough to care about more.
Rather than rallying the spirit of revolution, the lineup dwindled into little more than a hodgepodge of scattered causes and speakers getting their 15 minutes. And I once made a promise never to use the word ‘hodgepodge’ in my personal or professional life, so you know that means a lot.
Perhaps most interesting was the way many of the speakers handled the repeal of DOMA. The overarching message toward this repeal seemed a little on the defensive side, and, –aside from Cynthia Nixon, who was the first to offer a developed rationale on the subject—seemed to be caught in a vicious cycle of reasoning. We want marriage because it will bring us equality, but we can only attain equality through marriage.
What does this mean about our leaders, or what does that say about us? Sunday’s speakers seemed very much to be trying to sell marriage to the crowd, to convince us that we should all rally around this one cause. And of course we should, but the speakers of the rally knew that their audience was one smart enough to care about more.
We already know that there is nothing heteronormative about seeking equality. We know that, in our current structure, marriage is embedded within the law. We know that marriage shouldn’t be our number one priority because it is not through marriage that anyone should seek validity. But we also know that this is what’s possible and that this is where to start our fight.
Viva La Revolution!
By the time the afternoon died down, marchers left the mall with a renewed sense of solidarity, but something was missing.
Solidarity exists, but strings are attached. What were we there for, to demand equality or to spot celebrities and cruise girls? We need to be committed and focused on our movement. The celebrities and girls are just a plus.
What have we accomplished, really? We knew, when leaving, that tomorrow wouldn’t be any different than yesterday, but will we ever feel that tomorrow holds unreachable promise? Ultimately, all we can do is live with a social attitude of demand — of knowing that we deserve this, and that we can own it.
“I’m living in a time where [being out] is very possible,” said Cynthia Nixon to Autostraddle. “I’m lucky to be living now.”
Like anything in life, “never ask, never apologize” is the rule. If we’re going to expect rights, we can’t keep acting like we have to get permission. This isn’t high school and equal rights aren’t a bathroom pass. Asking only legitimizes the oppressor’s ideas that we should be seeking legitimacy through them.
“I’m living in a time where [being out] is very possible,” said Cynthia Nixon to Autostraddle. “I’m lucky to be living now.”
And who are we not to take advantage of this luck?
We’ve been dropped into history, we’re seeing the push for LGBT rights at its most critical point. We’re living our own revolution, and we can’t do it passively. We have to do it everywhere, and we have to do it for us, no compromises, no strings attached.
National Equality March Inspires Solidarity, Provides Attractive Lesbian Activists
Katrina Casino Danger Prepares to Assault with Press Pass
It’s the kind of day where anything can happen. It’s the kind of day you can bust through the D.C. Metro doors, fly through the turnstiles, and run up the empty down escalator yelling “Equality!” over and over again and instead of being arrested or hate-crimed, a line of shiny happy gays will hear you from ground level and are already cheering you on.
On one of the last straggling days of summery skies and subsequent sunburns, Equality Across America lured queer freedom fighters, the out & proud, the ambitious allies and the hungover & downtrodden from across the nation — and one from across the pond who may or may not have edited the lyrics to “America the Beautiful” once or twice — to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., site of The National Equality March for GLBTQ rights.
Autostraddle was there. We’re going to give you a complete round-up, including our video from the event and interviews Cynthia Nixon and Dan Choi later this week, but while the magic is still fresh in my head and the event is still fresh in yours, this here is my mini-recap of our lesbian journey to The National Equality March.
We Would Have it No Other Way:
Riese: Do you have a dictaphone and camera for tomorrow?
Katrina: No! But! I have a notebook and very uh — very fast-moving hands!
Riese: Of course Autostraddle is the site that gave their press pass to a massively hungover punk with fast-moving hands.
Katrina: Yeah, it’s like, the future?
[We found a camera]
National Equality Marches are Good for Lesbian Girls
There’s one big difference between the National Equality March and the last dehydrated Autostraddle walkathon Gay Pride I noticed right away. I mean, besides the fact that one is a call to arms and the other was a streamer-infused, glitter-raining summer dance party.
If you guessed “the gay ladies showed up in full force to this one,” you’d be right!
This probably was reflective of the idea that queer women’s spaces tended to shy from the mainstream bar-and-club scene and toward activist and community-based areas. This also may have been an early birthday present to me, as this scene was full of activists, and activists are very attractive.
The downside to this not being Gay Pride was a distinct lack of techno-infused paper mache floats, but then Lady GaGa showed up (in suspenders, probably because she read our Fall Style Guide), and Gaga said it was good.
National Equality March Shows Strength in Numbers
The up side of this endeavor was the strong presence of solidarity. Although the march lacked a definitive goal (“equality,” though totally legit, can be a bit vague), and marching on Washington has yet to successfully move LGBT legislation, the National Equality March was more a showing; it was strength in numbers.
Katrina Fast Hands Dan Choi
Also we were not marching behind a proud pack of aged nudists. So there was that too.
Chants varied from the standard “Gay, straight, black, white/Marriage is a civil right” to the slightly rhetorically slippery “What do we want? Equality! When do we want it? Yesterday!” to the surprising throwback “Harvey Milk was right/Show your pride and fight!”
Some of my favorite sings included “LevitiKiss My Ass,” “God Hates Shrimp” and “I like it and I wanna put on a ring on it.”
Also favorable was the great bounty of high-profile activists and celebrities that we stumbled upon (like literally… sorry, Kristin Chenoweth!), including the lovely and talented Cynthia Nixon and discharged combat veteran/Knights Out activist (and Autostraddle lesbro) Lt. Dan Choi.
High (and low)lights from the Rally:
There’s no secret about this: rallies are called rallies for a reason. Speakers and performers gather at the end of a march to, well, rally the crowd and ignite passion within their communities. They’re supposed to make the feeling last and inspire the activists to activate.
And for a little while it did. The rally started out strong: inclusive of a spectrum of identities, respectful of and thankful to our predecessors, critical of our current administration but not radically so (with a few exceptions), and hopeful for a new generation of activists, the lineup of speakers covered every base.
Above all they came together to offer the idea that the gay generation gap is reconcilable, that we can combine the wisdom of gay rights veterans with the energy and innovation of the new grassroots campaigners. Furthermore, there’s no more opportune time to finally demand our rights. The time is finally right, they said, to be out, not because we seek validation, but because we owe it to ourselves to live the truth, and we are finally reaching a time where this kind of life is possible.
Although many of the opening speakers stressed the importance of grassroots organization, the glossy stage and big screens seemed a far cry from Harvey Milk’s soapbox-and-megaphone speeches. The lineup, consisting of around 30 speakers, often seemed more a chance for face time or an audition process for America’s Next Top Civil Rights Leader.
And yes, President Lady GaGa was loud and fabulous and disco stick-shatteringly close to me (I was almost forced to pull a KC Danger, hypothetically removing my pants and hurling them at the stage only to be dragged away in my lesbian boyshorts by security), but one couldn’t help but wonder whether crowd members were there to rally for rights or to cheerlead for the pop star.
BUT…
In the end, it was a gathering. 200,000 people piled seven blocks deep down the National Mall to show solidarity when they said there wouldn’t be. It was a chance for sign-wielding, plaid-wearing lesbians and their friends to make out in front of the White House see others support a cause once thought impossible.
Viva la revolution, eh?
Lesbians Come Out to the DC Streets for National Equality March
NATIONAL EQUALITY MARCH: I don’t know if you heard, but there was this Equality March thingie that happened this weekend in Washington D.C.; the crowd was huge, diverse, inspiring and quite creatively dressed. Intrepid Intern Katrina Casino was our on-the-scene reporter, we took a lot of video and we’ll have the full scoop for you unrolling this week. In the meantime, check out our awesome gallery of photos from the event.
At TIME, will a new generation of activists be heard? At The Independent, what’s stopping Obama from striking down DADT?
Just how many people showed up? Depends on who you ask, anywhere from 20,000 to 200,000. Over at inlookingout’s youtube channel, you can all the speakers including Staceyann Chinn, Kate Clinton, Dustin Lance Black, Cleve Jones, Julian Bond, Judy Shepard, Lt. Dan Choi, and a special performance from the cast of HAIR.
Was it worth it? We say: HELL YES. It provided an opportunity for gays to get together and exist in a context besides the more strictly-fun-oriented Pride Marches so often criticized for their shirtless speedo-wearing muscle dudes and we made the front page of a lot of news sources yesterday, which remains very rare these days.
LADY GAGA: Lady Gaga Speaks on the National Mall:
MIRANDA: Cynthia Nixon speaks on the National Mall:
DAN CHOI: Hundreds of LGBT activists and allies gathered at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Arlington National Cemetery to watch DADT-discharge and Arabic linguist Lt. Dan Choi dedicate a wreath to gay and lesbian soldiers who have fallen in the line of duty.
LEFT OUT: Black gay & lesbian couples had higher poverty rates than their black straight counterparts and three times higher than white gay couples, but black working class gays are left out of national gay rights agenda.
THIS SUCKS BAD: One of the four buses transporting Join the Impact marchers from Chicago to New York City for the march broke down in Toledo, Ohio and eventually was able to transport everyone on it … back to Chicago, stranding many of the group’s organizers, signs, and Intern Elizabeth!
POLL: 57% of Americans support Civil Unions for Gay & Lesbian couples. That’s it? WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU THE OTHER 43%??!!! I DON’T KNOW YOU, AND YOU CONFUSE ME.
HATERS: Oh! Here you are. Over at WORLDMag‘s “Obama’s Pledge to Redefine Marriage,” we can see in the comments that an announcement considered to be “not enough” by many gay activists is pretty apocalyptic according to the other side. We’re reminded by commenters that:
“What gets me is how so many want to corrupt the definition of marriage. I watched some of their speakers in DC yesterday and felt such pity for them. Bisexuals, transexuals, homosexual men, lesbians – all proudly defiant in playing their roles victims. Heartbreaking.”
“As a married heterosexual soldier, I’m entitled to on base quarters for my family in the housing area. If a gay man and his constant companion get “married” in a state recognizing it and the Federal govt RECOGNIZES that marriage, all of you–whether you approve it or not– will be providing [gays] on-base subsidized house in a neighborhood overflowing with young children. No wife would accept as normal her husband’s grabbing tail on the side. Male homosexuals from my review of the literature fully expect as a given that there will be occasional flings outside the marriage … Lesbians in contrast tend to be loyal to their partner even if not “married”.
LADY GAGA: Lady Gaga Performs John Lennon’s “Imagine” at the HRC Dinner:
Autostraddle’s National Equality March Photo Gallery
On October 10th, 2009, a whole bunch of gays, lesbians, transpeople, queers, bisexuals, and allies marched on Washington DC to demand marriage equality, an end to employment discrimination and the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy.
Autostraddle marched and witnessed the splendor on the grass. Here’s some photos we took (thanks for the digital camera, Gay Mom!) from the ground.
Nicole Pacent Wants to See You at “Relief Through Rock”!
Oh hey, what are you doing this Thursday, October 15? If you’re in New York, maybe you should think about going to see girls with guitars. Nicole Pacent–you know her, she’s the pretty girl with the lips from “Anyone But Me“–is throwing a fiesta to raise money for cancer research. She’s got eight girls set to play at Relief Through Rock: Chicks for a Cure, including Carrie Manolakos from Mamma Mia, Allison Case from Hair, Jo Lampert, Shaina Taub, Ani Niemann, Drew Citron, and Lindsay Wolf.
The show starts at 7 pm at the LGBT Community Center on 208 West 13th Street. You can email reliefthroughrock@gmail.com for more information or to reserve tickets for $15.
Emmy Awards 2009 Feature Pretty Girls in Gowns, Two and a Half Mad Men, Tina Fey
EMMYS: We half-watched The Emmy Awards last night and boy did they seem like they could potentially be interesting! I made the whole room quiet down to see if Cherry Jones (best supporting actress, 24) would refer to Sarah Paulson as her “girlfriend,” “partner,” or simply by name … but … nothing. Was Sarah in the building and if not … why not? Don’t worry too much, Intern Jess reports they are still very much together and were cute as two lesbian pies at the Sandra Bernhard show a few weeks back.
Furthermore, Drew Barrymore was notably sans the Love of Her Life Ellen Page, and was instead canoodling with that dopey guy from Waiting. Some of the night’s most attractive women include Olivia Wilde, Mariska Hargitay, and all the ladies from The Office. Well really everyone looked fantastic.
Also, our exclusive source reports that despite reports to the contrary Kristin Chenowith did not, in fact, require emergency medical services last night after receiving her Emmy for Best Actress (Comedy) in Pushing Daisies, but simply had a migraine headache, and is now totally fine. In fact is totally glowing for totally winning an award for a show that was totally unjustly canceled, according to the Academy and to our exclusive source, all of whom watch the TV.
Winners included Two and a Half Men (best actor supporting actor (obvs only one man cannot do the work of two and a half men) comedy) for mysterious reasons we hope to uncover this fall, Grey Gardens, 30 Rock (best comedy), Mad Men (best drama), and Mad About You. Is that not on anymore? Um, Doogie Howser is super cute, and once again proved that when something needs to be hosted, one must hire a gay.
Alex asked an interesting question: why is it that we still must divide these awards by gender? I feel it serves some ancient, important purpose … but will that ever change?
Our number one feelings are as follows:
LINDSAY LOHAN: The night began earnestly on Twitter — announcing her happiness that her friends & family approved of her love (likely a distraction tactic, to not focus on the fact that her love does not approve of her love these days). And then …
Then we degenerated into that old-fashioned kind of Lindsay Lohan love that makes us cringe and want to hug her or take her to pinkberry. Although if she was serious about the ‘90210’ thing … we want details.
PRECIOUS: Lee Daniels’s film “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” about an abused teenage girl in Harlem, won the Cadillac People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival on Saturday. (@nytimes)
SHUT UP MEGAN FOX: See the more everyone hates her, the more I want to like her. “Listen, Megan — I’ve been to college. I’ve met enough girls pretending to be into Sapphic action at parties to last me a lifetime. I’m sure your supposed bisexuality is a large part of your appeal, but if you must talk about it, could you at least make the story realistic?” (@nerve)
We’re Going to Washington for October’s National Equality March and You Should Too
Listen up girls, grrrls, women, men, boys, bois and non-gender-identified people!
Autostraddle’s got an announcement to make:
We’re throwing a giant party on the National Mall and everyone should come.
No, kidding, but there is for reals going to be a March on Washington next month for LGBT equality, and y’all should really be there. Autostraddle is going!
First, here’s the breakdown:
What: National Equality March
Where: the National Mall in Washington, DC
When: October 10-11
Why: According to Equality Across America, “Equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states. Let our elected leaders know that now is the time for full rights for LGBT people.”
Equal protection includes, but isn’t limited to; a repeal of DOMA, a repeal of DADT, the passage of ENDA to end workplace discrimination, the right of same-sex couples to adopt children and raise families, the passage of hate crimes legislation, immigration reform that recognizes same-sex couples (aka me marrying Intern Emily so she can move freely between Autostraddle headquarters and Canada) and a push for comprehensive anti-bullying policy through the Safe Schools Improvement Act.
The Equality March is slotted to coincide with National Coming Out Day and also marks 30 years since the first National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights. (more…)
How the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival’s Topless Womyn Changed My Lesbian Life Forever
Updated Editors Note, March 12, 2013: We’ve caught wind that this essay is being used in some college courses, so we thought it’d be a good idea to check back on what it is that was said here, because we used to be pretty ignorant and didn’t question the cissexist and trans misogynistic implications of this position and ensuing commentary. We’re very sorry. We recommend that you check out this piece on Bitch Magazine (ETA: and our piece on the policy), which contains links to lots of other sources of valuable ideas, for more information on Michfest’s unacceptable trans-exclusionary policies. We’re not going until all women can go, and we urge Michfest to reconsider their policies so all women can enjoy this potentially transformational experience!
ETA #2: Read Andrea Gibson’s statement on why she won’t perform at Michfest, read the Indigo Girls statement on why this is their last year at Michfest, read Queer Porn TV’s explanation for why they’re not screening their film at Michfest, read Nona Hendryx’s tweet saying she won’t perform at Michfest, and read this article on Transadvocate which contains Nancy Burkholder’s story.
ETA #3: Read our own article about Michfest’s trans-exclusionary policy here.
Ed. note: Autostraddle reader Lindsay wrote us to say she was going to the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival this year and asked if we wanted coverage of the event. Obvs, YES! However, because of MichFest’s emphasis on being a safe space for womyn, no photography is permitted. So we found visual aids elsewhere: 1. Some stunning photos by Angela Jimenez via The New York Times — actually, Angela turned her MichFest photojournalism work into a book called “Welcome Home”, 2. Google Image Search! and 3. We got our master cartoon recapper Stef to do some homespun cartoon-rcap art for the piece. Without any further ado, here’s Lindsay, our Canadian roving reporter! And Stef’s cartoons!
“It was nothing I expected, and it was everything I expected.”
-Staceyann Chin, “Michfest: Nature, God and Free-Roaming Vaginas“
Welcome Home
During the six days I spent with about 10,000 other women camping out on 650 acres of Western Michigan woodlands, I was asked multiple times how I’d heard about the Michigan’s Womyn’s Music Festival to begin with.
My answer to that is the same as my answer to why it took me so many years to actually attend the event; the Festival was part of the intrinsic Lesbian Folklore I’d been hearing about since I started coming out ten years ago. Therefore, I thought MichFest was for old lesbian hippies who like folk music, not younger womyn like me. I was wrong. Not only did it defy all my (admittedly unfair) expectations … but it felt like coming home.
In fact, it was a lot like how I felt returning to my homeland of Canada after a year studying abroad in Norway. Despite how adept I’d become at Norwegian culture and language, I hadn’t realized how little I’d been myself there ’til I was back in my comfort zone with friends & family. Similarly, the womyn-only “home” of MichFest made me feel more like myself than all the years I’ve spent living in a patriarchal society.
The sense of safety, well-being and complete Freedom I felt at the festival, which I attended with my cousin and her three young daughters, caught me by surprise. In the best way possible.
Kaki King Hosts Brooklyn Art Show: Music and Art and Lesbians, Oh My!
Katrina at the Kaki King Show, by Stef
Art, music, community? A venue full of cute, talented girls? Kaki King didn’t need to give me another reason to love her, but she did it anyway.
Back in the spring, singer/songwriter/guitarist extraordinaire Kaki King realized that she was lacking visual artist friends. She could’ve pitched Kaki King’s My New “Artsy” BFF to Logo but instead King made an offer to fans via her Myspace page: she had 12 guitars for 12 artists to use as a canvas to visually represent their choice of one of her songs. This project was to culminate four months later in The Exhibition, a free showcase/bangin’ party in Brooklyn’s own Littlefield, a performance/art space.
NYC Pride Weekend 2009: The Recap – If It’s Good For You Then It’s Good For Me
This is the true story of seven team members and twelve interns picked to sleep on the floor and have their lives photographed, cartooned, tweeted, blogged, facebooked and autostraddled. Find out what happens when lesbians [and interns who claim to not be lesbians] stop being polite and start getting real drunk queer!
I learned this on the Rosie Cruise, didn’t I? How you don’t realize just how rarely you’re surrounded by like-minded people until the moment when you actually are. I blogged about it. The interns have blogged about it and their blogs made our hearts split right open and bleed gradient rainbows.
In honor of New York City Pride 2009, our Intern Army rallied like only an intern army can and came to NYC from Belgium, Canada, California, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, and various suburbs of New York City. By the end of the weekend we were all completely in love with each other in the best, proudest, gayest, most self-accepting way ever. (more…)
AutoFocus! Snapshots from the Rodeo Disco
Because parties don’t really exist unless someone is there to photograph it, Autostraddle’s First Annual Rodeo Disco boasted three fabulous photographers: Our very own Robin Roemer, the incredible Dese’Rae Stage and Sin Garcia.
You’ll see Dese’Rae’s shots later this week when they’ll be available for viewing and ordering online and more of Robin & Sin’s shots in our upcoming massive Pride Recap Post … but in today’s Autofocus we present just a few of our most favoritist shots from the greatest night on earth!
Sexy Cowgirls - Check.
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